


Work Until Three

by anormallife



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Strippers & Strip Clubs, and also a stripper, everyone is 18+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:33:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anormallife/pseuds/anormallife
Summary: Ryuji would just be a bartender, making and mixing drinks… in front of people that were basically naked while dirty dancing up on a stage. Could he do this?Ryuji applies for a job as a bartender at a local strip club and falls for one of the charming dancers.





	Work Until Three

_Godammit Ann._

When Ryuji was complaining about looking for a new job over the summer he hadn’t really been expecting _this_. But he didn’t really have many other options.

Working at the convenience store was shit, and he didn’t even get paid that much. The beef bowl shop was a little bit better with the pay, but it got so busy sometimes it was hard to keep up. He could try working at the flower shop but that wasn’t really his thing. And with no real degree, except for a high school diploma, it was hard to find work anywhere else. So, when Ann said they were hiring at her work he couldn’t help himself from reaching out for the opportunity and accept, despite where she worked.

Ryuji found himself in Shinjuku, Tokyo’s infamous red light district, which wasn’t quite as impressive in the daytime as it was at night. He has been here a few times, mostly with Ann, but he tried his best to avoid the place after almost getting drawn into the wrong crowd with his last visit. So, he stuck to the less crowded parts of the streets and walked quickly to avoid any of the other people around him. He went down a few side streets and stopped when he reached his destination.

_The Velvet Room._

Is what was written out on a dull un-lit neon sign above the front door. He couldn’t really make out what color it was supposed to be in the daytime, but it did seem to have a bluish tint to it.

The name was pretty suitable for the building in front of him considering that it was a strip club. Yes, a strip club. He didn’t even know how Ann got roped into coming and working here in the first place, but now she was roping him into working here too. Ryuji just hoped that no kinky shit went on inside the club with a name like that.

He wasn’t here so he could be one of the stripper’s at the club if that’s what you’re thinking. Ann was always telling him he couldn’t dance, and with his messed up leg, he wouldn’t be able to do half of the moves anyways. And it’s not like he wanted the job of being one of the dancers either. He was here to interview for a bartender position. One of their bartenders just quit and they were looking for someone to fill their place. Ryuji was quick to volunteer to do so.

From the few texts Ryuji had exchanged with Ann not too long ago on the train, he had learned that no one would answer him if he tried to go in through the front door of the club. The side entrance was a bit more appropriate for what he was coming here for, and he was more likely to get noticed by a worker if he came in that way. Although if the worker that noticed him wasn’t Ann they probably would be wondering what he was doing there. He could only cross his fingers and hope that Ann was being a good friend and waiting for him.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his purple hoodie and let out a breath as he took a step forward and started to make his way to the side of the building. He walked up to metal door set into the brick of the building that he could only assume was the side entrance. Here goes nothing. He placed his hand on the door handle and got ready to open the door when a large crash came from behind him followed by a cat’s meow.

The sudden noise made Ryuji jump and he quickly let go of the door handle and turned around towards where the noise came from, his hands raised and ready to fight if things came to that. He noticed a trash can lid still moving slightly from being dropped to the ground. He relaxed a bit and let out a sigh of relief when he realized the cause of the noise was just a black and white cat peeking out of the trash can that was missing its lid.

“Dammit, you scared the shit out of me ya little bastard.” Ryuji grumbled as he stuck his hands back into his pockets and watched as the cat leaped out of the trash can. The cat sat down on the pavement and looked up at Ryuji with blue eyes and what looked like a smug grin on its little cat face. Was it even possible for a cat to pull off an expression like that? Whatever kind of expression it was, Ryuji did not like it and sent a slight scowl in the cat’s direction.

Ugh. What was he even doing? He didn’t have time to be angry at a cat for scaring him, he had a job interview that he kind of needed to get to.

He looked back towards the metal door. Was this cat trying to give him some sort of sign that he shouldn’t do this job or something? He was quick to accept the job, but that was mostly because he needed the job and needed money. A strip club wasn’t exactly the first place he would go when looking for any sort of job, but it’s not like he was doing anything crazy. He would just be a bartender, making and mixing drinks… in front of people that were basically naked while dirty dancing up on a stage. Could he do this? This job might be a bit out of his comfort zone. If this was just a normal bartending job then maybe he wouldn’t be second guessing himself right now. Ann was always trying to get him to try new things, but that usually meant trying a new crepe flavor not applying to work at a stripper joint. What would his mother think if he told her where he would be working now? Ugh! What was he even doing?

A meow behind him brought him out of his thoughts.

He looked back over to the black and white cat still staring up at him with those big blue eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. I am thinking way too much about this.” he muttered as he reached up and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He knew the cat hadn’t actually said anything to him, he wasn’t crazy or nothing, but he felt like that’s what the cat was trying to say to him with that meow.

He turned his attention back towards the door, and before he could overthink his decision again, he reached for the handle, opened the door, and stepped inside.

Ryuji found himself in a dimly lit hallway when he entered the building. The walls were painted a dark blue and many different rooms branched off of the hallway and a set of stairs lead up to a second floor.

In the hallway, a familiar tall blonde was standing and chatting with a shorter dark-haired girl. As soon as Ryuji stepped inside the blonde’s bright blue eyes looked over to him and instantly lit up. “Ryuji! You made it! For a second there I almost didn’t think you were going to come.” Ann exclaimed as she made her way over to him, blonde pigtails bouncing as she walked. Once she reached him she affectionately wrapped an arm around him.

“The hell you mean you didn’t think I was gonna come?” He asked her, his brows furrowing slightly as he moved away from her touch a bit.

Ann retracted her arm from around him and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, you could have bailed on us or something like that.”

“I texted you a few minutes ago from the train, didn’t I?” Ryuji retorted. Ann was right though. He totally could have bailed. He was having second thoughts just a few minutes ago.

Ann shrugged yet again. “For all I know you could have been lying to me.”

“Well I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Yes you are, and I’m really glad you decided to interview for the job.” She said to him with a bright and genuine smile on her face. From teasing to genuine if a few seconds, it was always like this with her.

The dark haired girl that had been talking to Ann previously came up to the two of them. “Is he interviewing for a dancing position?”  She asked in a voice much timider than Ann’s.

Ann snorted after the question was said. “Ryuji a dancer? Now that’s a funny thought.” She said with a smile. At her comment, Ryuji shoved her away from him, in a more playful manner than a hurtful one. Ann just grinned at him before turning her attention back to the other girl. “To answer your question, no he isn’t. He’s here to fill the bartender position.” She answered before looking between the two people before her and a thought came into her head. “You’ve met Suzui-chan before, right Ryuji?”

“Oh yeah, a few times at your place I think.” He said with a nod as he looked the other girl over. He had thought she looked familiar. “Nice to meet you again.” He said politely to Suzui. This wasn’t exactly the place he was expecting to meet her again though.

“Nice to meet you again too, Sakamoto-kun.” Shiho greeted him back with a small closed-lip smile.

“Good to know that you two still remember each other.” Ann said then put an arm around Shiho’s shoulders. “Now, I need to get back to practicing. And _you_ ,” She said, emphasizing the word by pointing a finger over in Ryuji’s direction. “Have an interview to get to.”

Oh right, the interview. His friend had distracted him so much that he forgot about the whole situation for a second. “Go upstairs and the first door on the right, that is where you need to go.” Ann informed him and he gave a nod in response and turned his attention over to the set of stairs. Ann turned her attention away from Ryuji and to the girl beside her. “Want to go help me work on some moves?” she asked Shiho.

Shiho responded with an enthusiastic nod. “Sure.” she said with a smile. Then the two turned and left the hallway together, chatting and giggling with each other. As for Ryuji, he was still staring at the set of stairs.

Ryuji swallowed a lump in his throat. He could do this. He was already here, he just needed to get the interview portion done now. He was always like this,  all sweaty and nervous before an interview. Even if he knew he was going to get the job he was always nervous during the interview. I guess you could say it was just his process. Hopefully, this interview wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be.

Ryuji approached the staircase and slowly made his way up. Once he reached the top landing he started to make his way down the hallway. He stopped in front of the door that Ann mentioned, which had a plaque nailed to it that had the word ‘MANAGER’ across it. Well, at least that was there in case he had gotten lost on his way up the stairs.

Ryuji forced down another wave of nervousness then raised a fist and rapped his knuckles against the wooden door. A female voice replied to him immediately. “Come in!” The voice called from the other side of the door. Ryuji obeyed and opened the door and stepped inside.

The room looked like any typical office, with a big desk and a chair and a few filing cabinets and bookshelves lining the beige colored walls. When he came into the room he was only expecting to see one person in there, but to his surprise, there were two women there. One of them was sitting in a chair behind the desk and the other was leaning against the desk with their arms crossed. The two of them were almost completely identical and the only way to tell them apart was the way they styled their hair. The woman sitting at the desk had her white hair pulled back in a braid while the one that was standing and leaning against the desk had her hair in two buns on either side of her head. They both watched him intently with golden colored eyes.

The one leaning against the desk glanced down at some papers down on its surface before glancing back up at him as he closed the door behind himself. “Ryuji Sakamoto, right?” She questioned and he responded with a quick nod. “Take a seat.” She ordered as she gestured to a chair in front of the desk. Ryuji obeyed her command and carefully took the seat offered to him before he looked up to the two women.

“Our higher up, Igor, isn’t here right now so the two of us will be conducting the interview in his absence. My name is Justine and this is my sister Caroline.” The woman sitting at the desk said, who he now knew as Justine. Already using first names with him? That didn’t seem very formal, maybe he could relax just a little bit. Justine started flipping through the papers on her desk that were attached to a clipboard. “So you’re here to interview for the bartender position, right?” She asked as she let the papers fall back down on the desk, and Ryuji responded to her question with yet another nod. “What makes you qualified for this job?”

Alright, his first serious question that he couldn’t answer with just a nod. He could do this. Just answer formally and honestly and make sure not to use any profanity.  “Well I have worked restaurant and customer service jobs in the past, so I have some experience in helping and serving customers. And with the restaurant job I’ve picked up on how to mix a few drinks.” Ryuji explained.

Justine scribbled some words down on a piece of paper after he answered. “You do have a few part-time jobs listed here in your past experience…” She muttered and glanced down at the papers in front of her once again. “Why do you want the job?”

“Well if I’m being honest here, I need the money. I don’t have a job for the summer and I need some sort of income to pay rent. And I kind of wanted a change of pace, so a new job will help with that. And having more experience to add to my resume is always good.” Ryuji answered honestly.

“Just in it for the money, huh?” Caroline finally spoke as she narrowed her eyes and leaned toward Ryuji slightly.

“Caroline, leave him alone. Most of our workers are here because they need money too.” Justine stepped in so Ryuji didn’t have to actually respond. Something must have worked because Caroline backed off a bit. “Ann Takamaki recommended you, you’re friends?” Justine asked, changing the subject for them.

Well, that’s an easy question. “Yes, we have been since middle school.” Ryuji answered.

“Let’s hope what she says about you is true.” Caroline spoke up again.

“Caroline-” Justine started.

“Should I also point out the fact that he has piercings?” Caroline pointed out. Which in turn made Ryuji self consciously reach up and tug slightly on the earing he had in. Was she trying to use scare tactics on him or something? Because whatever she was doing was working and sending more waves of nervousness through him.

“Caroline, stop hounding him so much. Piercings are fine, especially ear piercings.” Justine reassured him, which helped in calming down Ryuji’s nerves a little bit.

“... Fine, if you say so.” Caroline relented with a slight pout.

“Moving on.” Justine said and looked to the papers in front of her once again.

\---

And the interview continued on like that. Justine would ask a question that applied to the job and Ryuji would answer honestly. Occasionally Caroline would come into the conversation to take a jab at Ryuji, and Justine would come in to calm her down. Before he knew it the interview was over.

“Well, that is all the questions that I have for you today. We’ll look over your resume and your answers then let you know in a few days time if you received the job.” Justine said as she set the pen she was holding down. “Your chances, are looking pretty good though. You have good character and we haven’t received very many applicants.” Justine said to him with a slight smile on her face. If she was being honest, they haven't received any other applicants other than the man sitting before them, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much though.” Caroline butted in.

Justine rolled her eyes slightly at the comment and then stood up from her seat at the desk and Ryuji followed suit by standing up from his seat. “Well, hopefully, we’ll be seeing each other soon.” Justine said with a smile and she held out a hand that Ryuji shook.

“Yeah, hopefully.” Ryuji responded as he took his hand back. “Thank you for this opportunity. I’ll be looking forward to your call.”

“You can head on out now.” Caroline said to him.  

“Have a nice evening.” Justine added trying to leave the conversation on a pleasant note.

“Uh, thanks. You too.” Ryuji responded then he made his way out of the room. Once out of the room and safely in the space of the hallway he took a second to take a deep breath. He did it, he interviewed for the bartending job. Which by the sounds of things, he had a high chance of actually getting. Which he was grateful for since not having any kind of income was not great. Now he better get out of here before he could mess anything up for himself.

He made his way down the stairs just in time to catch Ann as she was walking down the hall and chatting with a man a bit taller and thinner than him with dark blue hair parted to the side. One way to describe would be as a pretty boy. He was probably another one of the dancers.

Ann must have seen him out of the corner of her eye because she paused her chatting for a moment to shoot him a grin.

Ryuji responded with a grin of his own and double thumbs up. His signal that things had gone well.

Ann gave him a thumbs up back then turned her attention back to the man beside her, who hadn’t even realized that she had stopped talking to him for a moment. The two continued on down the hall to what was probably a practice room, chatting about dance moves or something. It would have been nice to stick around and talk with Ann for a bit, but she did have a job she needed to practice for and Ryuji wasn’t technically hired yet. So Ryuji continued on his way and made his way out of the building.

Ryuji took a deep breath and stretched his arms up when he was finally outside again. Now that that was over, he could just go home and relax for the rest of the day. That sounded like a good plan. Maybe he could even catch up on some shows that Ann had mentioned to him. He started to lower his arms and laced his fingers together before resting his hands on top of his head. He took a glance around the alley and noticed a guy nearby kneeling down and feeding the little bastard cat from earlier some scraps of food. Did he work at The Velvet Room too? He wouldn’t see any other reason to come down this alley. He would have to pass them on his way out to go back the way he came, he guessed it wouldn’t hurt if he struck up a quick conversation.

Ryuji let his hands fall down to his sides as he started to make his way over. “Hey, you shouldn’t feed the stray cats, they’ll keep coming back around here if you do.” He commented. He already had one run in with this cat, he didn’t want to have another one.

The guy picked their head up slightly as Ryuji started to speak then turned to look at him, dark-rimmed glasses glinting in the light as they did so. He stood up then turned to face him. Ryuji quickly took in the other man’s appearance. He looked to be about the same height as him, with black messy hair and dark grey eyes to match. He wore a black blazer with a white v-neck t-shirt underneath, jeans, and brown shoes. He had a pretty boy look to him too, just like the other worker had. Maybe he was possibly a dancer too.

“Oh it’s fine, Morgana won’t do any harm besides beg for food. He’s kind of our little mascot around here.” The other man responded with a smile as he glanced back at the cat before returning his gaze back to Ryuji. He took a quick glance back at the door that Ryuji had just come out of. “You just came from the club, right? I haven’t seen you around before. Are you a new hire?” he questioned him.

Ryuji shook his head. “Not a new hire, at least not yet, I just came in for an interview today.” he explained.

The other man looked him over, almost like he was sizing him up. “Filling a dancing position?”

Ryuji quickly shook his head. “Nah, the bartender position. I can’t dance.” he said with a wave of his hand. Why did people keep thinking he was going to be a dancer?

“Hm, that’s a shame, you have the looks for it.” The man with a slight smirk.

What was that supposed to mean? Ryuji could start to feel a slight blush rising to his cheeks and he did the best to hide it. “Uh, thanks man.” Was the only thing Ryuji could think of to respond with.

“Ren Amamiya, I’m one of the dancers at the club.” Ren introduced himself as he held a hand out to Ryuji. His name sounded slightly familiar, but that’s probably only because Ann has brought him up in conversations before.

Ryuji took his hand and shook it. “Ryuji Sakamoto.” He introduced himself.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sakamoto.” Ren said to him with a smile. “I’m late to practice and really should get going. Maybe I’ll be seeing you again soon.” He said then placed a quick hand on Ryuji’s shoulder as he passed before he went into the building.

Ryuji watched him as he went, basically staring. What just happened? And who was this charming stranger? Ren was his name, but other than that he didn’t know anything about him. Something about the other man made him kind of want to learn more.

All he could do was hope he got the job and they would be seeing each other again soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, I hoped you enjoyed reading this!  
> So, this is like my first serious fan-fic and the first I'm posting on here. I don't know how many chapters this will be, or how long it will take me to get out the next chapter, but I hope you all stick around.  
> This first chapter was mostly for setting the scene and our two characters did get to meet, even if it was just for a little bit. I will let you know that I have no idea how strip clubs work but it's the effort that counts. Next chapter we will get to meet the rest of the crew!


End file.
